MONROVIA - A Russian freighter stranded at sea for more than three weeks with 450 Liberian war refugees returned to Monrovia yesterday, with passengers reporting about 10 deaths during the ship's ordeal.
"There were tears and rejoicing," a witness said of the scene at Monrovia port after the Zolotitsa docked and the passengers disembarked. Passengers said about 10 people died as the rusting freighter roamed the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa short of water and rejected by ports in the region.